JUST ADDED!I Feel Like Blogging About Babies
by aviva
Now I know why so many cultures throughout time, all over the world, developed customs relating to haircovering and hairstyles for women: to keep their babies from yanking them bald. I have a 4-month-old daughter who recently discovered the joys of grabbing the tender hairs at my neck, kind of behind and below my ears (the part just outside of my tichel too), and giving a nice sharp tug. She even found the end of my ponytail today. OUCH.
But when we go out, she’s kind of like an accessory for me. Before you think that I think my baby is just a necklace, let me explain what I mean. When you wear a really nice scarf or belt or something, people come over and comment on how nice it is. An eye-catching accessory can start a conversation, as well as make you feel like you look good.
Similarly, lots of people spot a baby and immediately start cooing about how cute he or she is, which makes you, as the parent or caregiver, feel really cute yourself.
And there are plenty of accessories that go along with a baby, that can make or break your look. You might make fun of someone with a really expensive stroller, but secretly you think that it’s pretty cool – and really shabby ones held together with duct tape make you cringe a little. I have a really nice, unique baby carrier, so wearing my baby always draws a lot of attention. And don’t get me started on baby clothes…have you ever noticed that unless your girl is dressed from head to toe in the frilliest pink possible, people will assume she’s a boy?
Since it’s summer now, I get to have fun with sunhats and baby sunglasses and little bathing suits. Stretchy headbands with big flowers are really trendy on little girls right now. But in spite of all the adorable stuff out there, in this heat she’s happier than a clam in nothing but a diaper. I’m tempted to start using cloth diapers just because they’re so much more colorful and interesting than disposables.
In short, whether you’re a parent or a relative or a sitter, a cute baby in your arms is better than the most stylish outfit for attracting positive attention. Just keep your hair pinned up TIGHT.
Isn’t it amazing how babies can find your hair no matter what! Love the article!
This is the reason I cut my hair short LOL
Nothing like holding a sweet, precious baby.
) But, yes, gotta keep the hair pulled back out of reach!
i would really love to win !!! it is hotter than heck out and i have very long hair and you can help me with that thanks <3<3
i like to keep the hair outta my face in the summer.
haha! yup! one of my little cuties yanked my tichel off in the middle of a shopping center…
love to see lil one’s all cutsie uped!
very nice blog and sooo true i totally agree with everything you said . i have the same issues with my hair being pulled by my 3 yr old boy who i hold occassionally when i play toys with him or cuddle him up . i hope one day i have a girl who i can accessories with all those cute ponies and headbands !!!
i want to win this contest
I love a cloth diapered baby bottom. But letting your baby just go naked in the sun is fun too.
i would really love to win !!! it is hotter than heck out and i have very long hair and you can help me with that thanks <3<3 if i win me and my daughter can do each other hair !!<3<3
awww my sister’s having a baby in December!I have really long hair, so thanks for the reminder!
All of my babies have pulled my hair. I know that it is time for a headband or haircut then.
Love this post. I totally agree about the baby accessory business. Babies are Thank Gd amazing for many reasons, why not throw accessory into the mix?
My kids liked hat for their heads
I agree with what you are saying. When I had my daughter I would get the same responses and it irked my nerves when they would say “oh hes so cute”. I would just smile politely and tell them that she is a she. lol. When I’m at home I just have my daughter in her diaper, oh what a happy camper she was. =) BTW, I retweeted this blog! http://twitter.com/OneUniqueQueen
This made me laugh!Babies are coming nowhere near my hair after reading this
Wonderful blog! I never really saw a baby as an accessory before but can see how you relate the two! I just cannot resist a baby. No matter their dress,etc. Just the opportunity to be around a little is so great.. My baby is so old now, she’s 33!
But I still remember the hair thing, ouch. I have naturally curly hair hair too, so my girls loved to play with the curls and get their fingers stuck in my hair..
Now they’re the moms and I just say, ‘Payback isn’t so good, is it!’ LOL!
two lil girls two diferent cultures I guess need hair stuff
I have a kid who likes shaitels and used to even pull it, now he likes to play with it. I prefer with babies to wear a tichel
My children always knew how to grab my hair, especially when I was holding them and visiting with someone. They know how to get the attention back to them. I am also one of the worst about talking to babies even though I do not know anyone in the family. My daughter did not like for me to put things in her hair after she got to the toddler stage as she would just pull them out. I have been trying to win one of your Facebook contests and could not even win when you had one for those that had never won. Oh, well.
I haven’t had to deal with babies pull on my hair, but I just came back from a vacation with a family with a little boy about waist height on me, and he loved pulling on the tassles of my long skirt pretty much constantly, either that or he was pushing me (he’s almost 2) and took great delight in it. That is so true about baby girls. I work as a cashier at a retail establishment and whenever a young mom and son (or daughter) came up to my till, it was hard to differentiate between the two if the daughter wasn’t dressed in pink.
I wanna win something! It really does hurt when they pull your hair or especially your EARRINGS (OUCH!) cant help but love them though.
Schy
my 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter has been looking sooo precious in her variety of colored stretchy headbands with big flowers, & my 21 yr old daughter has been looking gorgeous & chic in her variety of adult sequin/big flower headbands worn with her fall!
I tweeted about this giveaway http://twitter.com/ossmcalc/status/17281975102
My little boys were accessories too! One of my fav memories was the sailor suit… complete with the matching hat of course!!
I’m sure many of us have stories of baby (or kid!) yanking off our snoods!!
and as for the headbands with flowers…just got some for my daughter and LOVE IT!
When my son was small and started pulling at my hair it was painful but i think when he discovered my snood and started pulling it off no matter where we were (in the middle of a grocery store) that was worse!! He’s still my little troublemaker till today!!
That’s why we clip in the shaitel to the head, and only wear the shaitel out of the house! facing the baby the other way, sometimes helps too. (not too often though!), you just gotta pray the stage doesn’t last to long.
ps – would love to win!
My 2 1/2 year old son loves to twirl his own hair and my own. He sometimes pulls the hair out from under my tichel to twirl it. Maybe you can design a twirl free tichel! I also hope he isnt too heartbroken when we cute the little guys hair when he turns 3. Guess we will leave it a little long!
p.s. i just got some new pre tieds from you and they are so comfy and look good no matter how hastily i throw them on (watch out for mr. twirl fingers!)
My baby, thank G-d, is 2.5 months old and has yet to find my (covered) hair to grab.
And I totally understand about the whole looking like a boy unless she’s all pink thing…just happened to us in the supermarket last week. Apparently a white bodysuit with pink polka dots, navy pants with polka dots on the bottom and bows on the pockets and pink/purple striped socks=perfect outfit for a “boy”…
I love seeing babies wearing cute things in their hair! I have two girls – one of them hates when I put things in her hair, the other one loves it! But they both loved to pull on my sheitals/tichels…
We used Cloth diapers for MANY reasons and one of the things I LOVED most were how adorable they are. I hope you make that transition. You’ll be glad you did. Not just for the cute factor but I always had this feeling of accomplishment every time I heard the washer going and knew I was saving the environment as well as money.
I always wondered how babies knew not to pull the scarves off their mother’s heads. I have friends who are both religious Jews and Muslims, and their children know not to pull the scarves, even from the earlier of ages. I see children in the super markets and the children that I used to care for who are not from religious homes and they always go for the hair, pulling and ripping off the berets from their mother’s hair…
I am not a mother myself so I don’t know the magic behind having your child NOT rip your scarf off your head in public but still… I find it amazing… and yet it must still be so tempting for them!
Very cute! I really enjoyed reading this blog post.
All my babies love to pull my hair, esp the hairs at the back of my neck!
tweeted! i love your stuff!
haha – this is so true! My little niece has found a way to tug on my earrings, even when I’m not wearing dangly ones! Ow! and my bangs… and my glasses…
sounds just like my baby brother!
Loved the article! I totally understand about babies being an accessory. I walked into the office at my school with my friend’s baby (I was babysitting). The dean was totally taken by surprise and said “have I not seen you in that long?” It was quite funny.
Amazing how kids always grab hair. I recently chopped off 13 inches to donate and my two year old still manages to pull my hair. His hair is long too so you would think he’d pull his own but somehow my locks are more inviting.
Love the post! it totally made me smile, my daughter is 4 months old as well and she too LOVES pulling my hair/shaitel all the time, I love dressing her up especially with headbands and pretty bracelets..
I have more slings and carriers than I have head coverings, but I’ve been wearing babies for 17 years, and only covering for about 4 months..
I guess I need to have another baby so I can coordinate, sling, headcovering, and baby’s head gear. Lol
Love to win
Sombra
so true!!! my son loves to pull my hair and sometimes pulls off my tichel. the worst is when he pulls the sheital, so i avoid wearing it when i can.
It’s so true! Anytime my baby girl is wearing Jeans (even with a pink shirt) I get so many compliments on how cute HE is. And she’s the girliest girl I’ve ever seen!
Oh id love to win! Babies are the best!
I think that it is all about the hair or lack thereof and not the color the baby is wearing. My boys were born with heads full of hair, and as they grew, they were and are more and more frequently assumed to be little girls because of their long dirty-blond curls.
I always wear my sunglasses as a hair accessory. When I walk indoors, I put them on the top of my head. Works so as not to lose them, but to also keep hair out of my eyes. My baby now copies me, putting his sunglasses on the top of his head. Maybe you should start selling sunglasses as a haircovering!
For several years I haven’t had too much continual contact with babies (my youngest sibling being
but I’m currently spending a couple weeks with my older sister and her family. She has a 3 1/2 month old little boy (who is absolutely ADORABLE!) who enjoys grabbing anything within reach: necklaces, shirts, and, of course, hair!
I always thought it funny when babies wore headbands or other hair accessories when they were little. It seems that the one thing they want to do is tear it out of their hair while the parents (probably moms) want them to keep it in the hair. Oh well, I never did this as it just seemed so uncomfy for the baby.
Having the right accessories is always key when going out!
I had enough trouble when they were babies and they’d pull hair but now that the oldest is 5 and the youngest almost 4, I have a problem with spontaneous shopping cart hugs that nearly yank my headcoverings off. Still, I consider myself pretty lucky overall–a friend’s daughter doesn’t pull her hair, she pinches your skin and won’t let go!
I tweeted the article.
Lovely post! Babies are God’s most cutest and precious creations. Wonders how they loved grabbing hairs
Babies, and how you are around them, speaks more about you than your clothing ever will.
Babies are wonderful.
I can totally commiserate with all of you who have had your tichels pulled off. I’m newly married and this past Shabbos(weekend)we visited my parents. My little brother was very hyper and then got upset about something, when all of sudden before I even realized what was happening he pulled my tichel off and started cracking up! I also understand about babies attracting attention that is sometimes very funny. I was recently babysitting for a friends baby when I ran into someone I know (albeit not so well) in the store. She was giving me really strange looks and looking confused when i suddenly realized what was so strange – I was in my 8th month of pregnancy and the baby I was holding looks about 4 months old!!!
being pregnant is also like an accesory. As soon as you show it becomes a real conversation starter as well!
It’s so true! A cute baby is always a great accessory!
btw, did you see the new baby jean diapers?
How true! just like us, babies like to stay cooooool in the summer!
that’s weird! I posted a comment, but it never came up!
I was just saying how babies really are the best accessories
cloth diapers are great. Having diapered 8 babies believe me I know
with the new all in one and pocket diapers there is really no reason to use disposables anymore. I highly recommend Mommys touch.
My mother still has short tightly curled hair and she swears it’s my fault because I pulled at her hair when I was a baby.
I should point out that I’m 31 and my mother still wears the exact same hairstyle.
so true about dressing girls in pink…my neighbor had a baby & e/o kept saying what a cute baby she is & my brother cudn’t figure out how e/o knew it was a girl! i told him – its obvious, shes completely covered in pink!
I’ve always had long hair and when my boys were babies, they loved playing with it. It was the \toy\ that went everywhere!!
Hehe – great post! Hint: there are adorable cloth diaper covers that you can put over the disposable if you want the cute and convenience at the same time (but really, cloth diapering isn’t as hard as some make it out to be).
Yes, all attention leaves you once you have a baby in arms! Cute article and I always kept my hair in a ponytail to keep from tugging. I read a story when I was a young mother about a kid that had a serious medical issue from a hair wrapped around the baby’s finger and no one knew about it until it was a huge issue.
Retweeted your blog post!
I have a son, so no hair stuff in his hair LOL!
/Heather
Accesories are a MUST for my daughter. Poor thing has no hair yet, she is 17 months old, and I don’t see it really happening for a while. I didn’t have much hair until I was 3. If she isn’t wearing a bow or headband, she is a HE to many.
Great article! I had short hair when my babies were babies so I didn’t have to worry about them grabbing hold thank goodness.
http://twitter.com/stephifrsweeps/status/17328565926
Tweeted!
My 16 month old is always yanking out me hair… it’s a good incentive to always keep it covered
babies find hair and long earrings!!
my husband laughs when i sew my little princess a band for each outfit, as she has no hair… but it makes me so happy
Between my shaitel and glasses, my 7 week old baby girl has already started the grabbing! Sometimes I wonder if she knows who I am at 3 am with my hair pulled back in a messy bun and wide, exhausted, glasses-free eyes!
Another thing I can say, is I can’t wait to pierce her ears! And that I’m all for headbands, though my husband also thinks I am crazy!! I make my own, so why not for baby!?
Next step… matching headbands?!?
Lol, just after my daughter was born I went to the store with her in a frilly pink outfit. I laid her in the seat part of the cart on top of a blue blanket and had 3 different people ask me if she was a boy or girl. Sometimes not even pink can help.